[Switchblade]

Let me say this to start: as someone who loves a good portmanteau, the Heisaber is possibly the single most delightfully named doodad in all of Kamen Rider. The fact that I don't really remember what it looks like or what it does (specifically; obviously, it shoots CGI at things like most other Rider weapons) cannot detract from that.

Second, I want to talk a little bit about Zi-O's Decade armor. I generally like it. Decade's design is an all-time favorite, of course, so there's so automatic predisposition, but I think it avoids the big problem that I have with with the other Rider Armors. This is kind of related to my big problem with Rider weapons in general, but I'm rarely a big fan of armor power-ups. I think that Gaim is the only show that pulled it off well. With Zi-O and Ex-Aid, in particular, it often comes off looking like a mess of giant floppy foam and plastic pieces hanging off of the suit. The Decade armor, in contrast, is relatively clean and it brings back a lot of the lines from the original suit that I enjoyed so much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

And it also fits in with this whole two-parter's feel of being a recalibration after Act 1. The introduction of Tsukasa as an antagonist with a more fleshed-out character, the usage of Legend Rider Henshins, back-burnering the Time Jackers in favor of Woz and Decade, giving Sougo a bit more fire at the end... this is one of those stories where you can see the production team reacting to some of the complaints/deficiencies of the first Act. Not so much a shift as a slight tweak, but it's there.

It does, yeah. I guess it's not a spoiler to say that the show did start changing how it handled a lot of these elements now, but I will say that, in hindsight, it began earlier than I remembered.